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Paula Wolfert's Seven-Day Preserved Lemons

Preserved lemons, sold ready-made in Moroccan souks, are essential to that country's cuisine. The peel, pulp, and juice squeezed from the lemons can all be used. Sometimes, however, the juice and preserving brine can be bitter; use fresh lemon juice in that case.

Ingredients

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Preparation

Dry lemons well and cut each into 8 wedges. In a bowl toss wedges with salt and transfer to a glass jar (about 6-cup capacity). Add lemon juice and cover jar with a tight-fitting glass lid or plastic-coated lid. Let lemons stand at room temperature 7 days, shaking jar each day to redistribute salt and juice. Add oil to cover lemons and store, covered and chilled, up to 6 months.

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Recent Reviews

These worked out really well for me - I decided I wanted to make a Moroccan meal just 2 weeks before and didn't have time to preserve for a month. I'd never preserved them before, so maybe they're not as good as the real thing, but I got such raves about the zucchini & honey & preserved lemon recipe I made that I find it hard to believe...I'll try the long one next time, but will keep this in my back pocket in case I want preserved lemons on short(ish) notice again.

nrosen from Canada /

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Awesome. This is my first preserved lemon - I used Meyer lemons. They are really really GREAT and I used this recipe rather than one that used a lot of spices so the spices could be optional later. I just made a chicken tagine which really benefitted from them. I'm happy.

roxbox from san francisco /

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I've made a very similar version of this recipe from a Patrica Wells cookbook a few times, and it works well. (I use kosher salt, by the way.) The latest batch gave me a shock,though: when I opened the glass jar lid, it opened with a little violence, and I'm sure some gas escaped. The lemons smell delicious, but I worry what the accumulated gas might mean: could this be a sign of botulism, or just something benign?

A Cook from Minneapolis /

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I've used this recipe for years w/ good results. Use Meyer lemons = thin skinned, very tasty &juicy. Thick skin lemons= bitterness,due to their high amount of pith. Toss well w/ salt, shake off some salt, transfer to clean glass, cover with juice, close tightly, then put in fridge for a week or more.

Taffy from Ventura, Ca /

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i'm curious to know if any of you who have made this recipe found any bitterness in the lemons. i see that most everyone is not happy with how this recipe turned out. does anyone know of a better recipe he/she might like to share?